THE PROPHECY AND THE FULFILLMENT OF THE COMING OF THE CHURCH OF GOD TO THE GENTILES
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Q1. When did God rebuild his church?
Q3. How many are the first members of the Church of God built in Christ Jesus?
Q4. According to the prophecy, will the Church of God spread to the Gentiles, from Jerusalem?
Q5. How far is the spread of the Church of God?
Q6. In what name, according to prophecy, will the Gentiles be called the people of God?
Q10. Is it only on earth that the Lord Jesus gives importance to the Father's name?
In discussing the subject of “THE CHURCH”, we have learned and understood the essential truths that: (a) God built his church, (b) it was built on his Son, Christ Jesus, and (c) Peter is the revelation and witness of God’s church that was built on His Son, Christ Jesus. We also know that the Church of God built in Christ Jesus is a rebuilding, the first being the church in the desert; that God put Moses as the head then. (Acts 15:16-17; 7:35)
Q1. When did God rebuild his church?
A. On the day of Pentecost, when the apostles received the Holy Spirit with the other brothers.
“1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4) (NIV)
The Lord Jesus was 30 years old in the flesh, when he began preaching. (Luke 3:23) It took Him three years for His mission on earth, for three passovers also passed (John 2:13; 11:55; 19;14), before his preaching of the gospel ended. Hence, since 33 A.D. when God built his church, in Jesus Christ. This is when the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven and received the Holy Spirit by the apostles and other members of the house of their fellowship.
Q2. What are the key statements we need to know when the Holy Spirit came to be with the apostles and brothers during that time?
A. a)It came from the heavens.
It is a surprise, which holds the coming of God's power from the heavens. This is a sign of the establishment of God of his church in Christ Jesus, whose first members are the few people in the House. Notice that the whole house is filled with a rushing wind that comes in the power of God, the Holy Spirit.
b)Tongues of fire.
Not only was it felt but it was seen by the apostles and brothers that the power, the tongues of fire, came from above. Not only did they see it but every one of them feel it. Not only did they felt it but also rested on each of them. This meeting of the apostles and brothers with the tongues of fire was important. For it was the beginning of the preaching of the rebuilding of the Church of God.
c)Filled with the Holy Spirit.
What is the Holy Spirit? This is the power which came to the apostles and the brethren in the house they are in. The Holy Spirit is alive and the power of God imparted to or the Church of God that the Head is Christ Jesus.
d)Speaking in different languages.
Through the Holy Spirit the apostles spoke in different languages. (Acts 2:5-11) This gift of power that one can speak different languages signals to the door of the house of God - the Church of God - is open to all languages and nations, to those who are approaching and distant, as many as the Lord God will call. (Eph. 2:17; 2:39) This incident implies that the Church of God will spread throughout the world, according to the prophecy of its Head, Christ Jesus. (Mat. 24:14)
Q3. How many are the first members of the Church of God built in Christ Jesus?
A. There are a hundred and twenty (120) starting members.
“14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. 15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) “ (Acts 1:14-15) (NIV)
Q4. According to the prophecy, will the Church of God spread to the Gentiles, from Jerusalem?
A. It will reach out to the Gentiles (countries).
“16 “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’— 18things known from long ago. “ (Acts 15:16-18) (NIV)
The Gentiles is the nation that does not belong to Israel. The places that the apostles were able to preach were the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Thessalonians and others. And now, through the Bible in which their preaching is reaching America, Europe, Asia and islands like the Philippines. The Gentiles are the nations that is said in Eph. 2: 11-12, "…foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." (NIV)
“13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Eph. 2:13-16) (NIV)
Q5. How far is the spread of the Church of God?
A. Until the ends of the earth.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) (NIV)
With the prophets, witnesses of God the Father - which is revealed in the Book of the Old Testament - the apostles of the Lord Jesus continue to testify or preach the gospel, taught by Christ who came from heaven. According to the commandment of the Lord Jesus, their testimony and preaching will reach the ends of the earth. By their mouths when they are still alive, but through their letters when they passed away. This is said by Apostle John.
Among those who are called in different parts of the world, the Philippines is also the people of God. We are not a new Church of God (sanctified) in Christ Jesus here in the Philippines, but we were added as a Church of God written in the Bible. There is not much Church of God which the body has the Head, that is Christ Jesus (Col. 1:18, 24), which is confirmed by the Apostle Paul.
“4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4:4-6) (NIV)
Q6. In what name, according to prophecy, will the Gentiles be called the people of God?
A. In the name of God the Father.
“14 Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:” (Acts 15:14-15) (NIV)
Q7. In the names of God the father, in the Holy Scriptures, which of his names has he determined to be called upon him for all the generations to remember?
A. The name GOD
“God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.” (Exo. 3:15) (NIV)
Some of the names written in the Holy Scriptures of the Lord God Almighty are: LORD (Exo. 15:13), LORD of hosts (Isa 47: 4), JEHOVAH (Ex 6: 3), JAH (Psalm 68: 4), and GOD (Amos 5:27).
Q8. In the last days, was the Father’s will fulfilled that His name, God, be part of the name of His church?
A. Yes, it was fulfilled.
a) It is also directed by his only Son sent in the last days.
“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” (Jn. 17:11) (NIV)
The things the Father has given to the Son, to preside, should be called in the name of the Father. Therefore, churches that are not called in the name of the Father do not glorify the Father, and are not subject to the Son. It must be that they are the ones that Apostle Paul is speaking of, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Rom. 1:21) (NIV)
b) The church that God built in Christ Jesus that was persecuted by Paul, has the name Church of God.
“For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.” (Gal. 1:13) (NIV)
“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Cor. 15:9) (NIV)
“Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!” (1 Cor. 11:22) (NIV)
The church that God built in Christ Jesus in Jerusalem was persecuted and scattered. (Acts 8:1) One of Paul's (Saul's) persecutors who testified it to be true, that its name is the Church of God. That because of God's mercy on him, he was called to be a member of the Church of God. What is the name of the Church that he calls him to be an apostle? His testimony:
“1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:” (1 Cor. 1:1-2) (NIV)
Q9. Who are like those who do not honor the name of the Lord, in the way that they named their churches differently?
A. Just like the priests who showed contempt to the Lord’s name.
““A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’” (Mal. 1:6) (NIV)
Normally the child respects his father by having his father's name (surname). But there are Christians who, despite their acceptance of the Lord God as their Father, honors to give a different name to their church. In this way they are like priests who despise the name of the Lord God. They are also prophets who prophesy the lie spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
“26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.” (Jer. 23:26-27) (NIV)
Those who established their church have forgotten the name of the Lord God by placing another name in place of the Name of the Lord God, who is the true builder and owner of the church. Because of this, many sects were built, large and small which worship the creature rather than the Creator. (Rom. 1:25)
Q10. Is it only on earth that the Lord Jesus gives importance to the Father's name?
A. Until the new Jerusalem.
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:… (Rev. 3:1) (NIV)
“11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.” (Rev. 3:11-12) (NIV)
It is God, “who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. “ (1 Tim. 2:4) (NIV) Because of this, the spread of the Church of God continues throughout the world, although in little flocks in every direction. (Luke 12:32) were being added. The prophecy in Revelation affirms this, that which will take place at the end of the period saying:
“9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:9-10) (NIV)
It is a clear statement that everywhere, throughout the last days (A.D.) of the world that it will reach the salvation of God. But not in the way of man's thoughts, but of God’s, The way is:
(a)accept his messenger in the last days and that is no other than his only Son, Jesus Christ, (Jn. 1:12); (b) worship his name to have the right to become the children of God, (Jn 1: 12-13); therefore ought to be a member of his household, (Eph. 2:19); (c) because you are a child and a member of his household, it is only fair to call or possess His name, God. (Jn 17: 11-12); (d) He who is the Father God raised up his household to his Son, Jesus Christ, (Eph 2: 20-22); (e) Only once did the God the Father rebuild His household (church of God), which is why members of the Church of God (sanctified) in Christ Jesus in the Philippines and everywhere, belongs to the one and the true Church of God written in the Holy Scriptures. (Acts 2:41; I Cor. 1: 1-2).
Therefore, in order to be sure of the salvation that any man wishes, it must follow in the way and righteousness of God's salvation, and not in the way and righteousness of man, because:
“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (Prov. 14:12) (NIV)
““I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.” (1 Cor. 10:23) (NIV)
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